Kitchen Table Wisdom : Stories That Heal

by Remen, Rachel Naomi

• ISBN13: 9781594482090
• ISBN10: 1594482098
• Edition: 10th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-08-01
• Publisher: Riverhead Trade

Summary

Praised by everyone from Bernie Siegel to Daniel Goleman to Larry Dossey, Rachel Remen has a unique perspective on healing rooted in her background as a physician, a professor of medicine, a therapist, and a long-term survivor of chronic illness. In a deeply moving and down-to-earth collection of true stories, this prominent physician shows us life in all its power and mystery and reminds us that the things we cannot measure may be the things that ultimately sustain and enrich our lives.

Author Biography

Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., is a pioneer in training physicians in relationship-centered care and has been in the private practice of psycho-oncology for the past 20 years. A former faculty member at the Stanford School of Medicine, she is also co-founder and medical director of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program in Bolinas, California. She is currently clinical professor of family and community medicine at the University of California at San Francisco.

Table of Contents

Preface to the 10th Anniversary Edition	xvii
Foreword	xxv
Introduction	xxxi
I. LIFE FORCE	1	(32)
Plum Blossoms	5	(4)
The Will to Live	9	(6)
A Front-Row Seat	15	(3)
Style	18	(5)
Silence	23	(3)
Reading Between the Lines	26	(3)
Damming the River	29	(4)
II. JUDGMENT	33	(40)
Getting It Right	39	(3)
Meeting Mr. Right	42	(2)
Back to Basics	44	(2)
Beyond Perfection	46	(3)
The Ordinary Hero	49	(2)
Professionals Don't Cry	51	(4)
Who Is That Masked Man?	55	(4)
Kissing the Boo-Boo	59	(2)
How It Was	61	(2)
The Gift of Healing	63	(3)
On Naming and Awe	66	(2)
Grist for the Mill	68	(2)
The Wood-of-No-Names	70	(3)
III. TRAPS	73	(30)
Healing at a Distance	78	(3)
Mirror Image	81	(3)
A Good Fortune	84	(4)
Grace	88	(2)
Sleight of Hand	90	(3)
The Emperor's New Clothes	93	(7)
Lag Time	100	(3)
IV. FREEDOM	103	(11)
The Long Way Home	110	(4)
The Container	114	(23)
Another Kind of Silence	119	(6)
Going Home	125	(5)
Remembering	130	(7)
V. OPENING THE HEART	137	(30)
A Way of Life	141	(2)
Just Listen	143	(2)
In Flight	145	(4)
To Be Seen by the Heart	149	(2)
Making Caring Visible	151	(3)
No Statute of Limitations	154	(3)
The Task Gets Between Us	157	(2)
Surprised by Meaning	159	(4)
Lineage	163	(2)
Some Things Are Ours Forever	165	(2)
VI. EMBRACING LIFE	167	(48)
At Last	173	(2)
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden	175	(3)
Life Is for the Well	178	(2)
A Room with a View	180	(2)
Three Fables on Letting Go	182	(3)
Endbeginnings	185	(3)
Surrender	188	(2)
Attached or Committed	190	(3)
Eating the Cookie	193	(2)
Choose Life!	195	(5)
Attached or Committed 2	200	(3)
All or Nothing	203	(4)
Embracing Life	207	(8)
VII. LIVE AND HELP LIVE	215	(44)
Human Being	221	(5)
Live and Help Live	226	(3)
How We See One Another	229	(8)
Touching	237	(5)
The Meeting Place	242	(3)
The Holy Shadow	245	(7)
Healing Is Mutual	252	(3)
Giving Darshan	255	(4)
VIII. KNOWING GOD	259	(30)
What If God Blinks?	263	(3)
Connecting Up	266	(4)
Prayer	270	(3)
Grandmother Eve	273	(4)
The Rabbi's Rabbi	277	(2)
Sanctuary	279	(3)
Consecrating the Ordinary	282	(1)
One of a Kind	283	(6)
IX. MYSTERY AND AWE	289	(42)
Freedom	295	(5)
The Question	300	(2)
What Is the Sound of One Hand Clapping?	302	(7)
In Darkness	309	(5)
Seeing Around the Corner	314	(4)
Remembering the Sacred	318	(5)
Mystery	323	(2)
The Final Lesson	325	(6)
Epilogue	331	(4)
Acknowledgments	335